ELLECONTROVERSY

SEEINGTHE LIGHTLIKE MADONNA1 DEMII ROSEANNE1 ET AL'l MANY KABBALAH CENTRE REGULARS SAYTHEIR LIVES HAVE BEEN IMPROVED. BUT SOME OF ITS MORE VULNERABLE FOLLOWERSTESTIFYTO EMPTY PROMISES AND AJOURNEY DARKENED BYDESPAIR.BYKENNETH MILLER

he Beverly Hills Kabbalah Centre on Shab-bat Eve-the start of the Jewish sabbath-isa power spot in every sense of the term. On arecent Friday night, the congregationincludes Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, andrising star Monet Mazur (Torque). As in anOrthodox synagogue, the sexes are divided,

but here the separation seems to amp up the electricity.Thefaithful-men in white, women in designer splendor-beltout Hebrew prayers like fans at a Rolling Stones concert.They raise their right hand and utter a collective"Oooooooooooh!" There's a brisk commerce in ecstatichugs and knowing grins. ~t-.-,-

At the altar, Rav Philip Berg chants bless-ings, flanked by his wife, Karen, and theirgrown sons, Yehuda and Michael. Berg, 75,

-is a portly man with a scragglybeard and afaraway stare; his offspring, who help runthe organization and write its literature, areplump and balding; and Karen, in her puBYwig, would fit in among the pious matronsof nearby Hancock Park. Yetwhen follow-ers speak of the Bergs, it's usually with awe."They're the most inspirational family I'veever met," Mazm says."It's undeniable howmuch energy they have, this amazing abilityto transform people's lives."

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Madonna, the Bergs' most famous acolyte, has called theirteachings "a manual for living"; after writing three children'sbooks whose proceeds benefit the center's kids' program, sherecently adopted the spiritual name Esther. Veteran A-listerssuch as Roseanne Barr,Bat'braStreisand, Mick Jagger, and LizTaylor have frequented the center, as have Brimey Spears andParis Hilton. Capitalizing on the celebrity stampede, thecenter has amassed an estimated 200,000 followers and nowhas 50 branches worldwide; its tax-free annual revenuesreportedly total in the tens of millions. Not bad for a groupwhose precepts are based on a form of Jewish mysticismtraditionally reserved for male Torah scholars over age 40.

But the Kabbalah Centre's successhas alsoaroused a chorus of naysayers. Somereligious authorities object to the group'sdecidedly unorthodox theology; othersdecry its commercialism, with courses cost-ing up to $270 and bookstores stocked withprivate-label bottled water, candles, scentedoils, meditation stones, and jewelry.

Most disturbing, perhaps, are chargesthat the center exerts a harmful influenceover some of its most vulnerable followers.Groups such as the Jewish Board of Familyand Children's Services in New York andthe international Jews for Judaism (whichcounters recruiting efforts by cults and

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missionaries) have received dozens of calls about the center,claiming that it encourages devotees to break with unbe-lieving spouses and family, pressures them to donate sumsbeyond their means, and says that Kabbalah water can curecancer. The center has consistently denied such accusations,but "across the globe, these issues keep coming up," saysRabbi Michael Skobac ofJews for Judaism in Toronto.

Is the Kabbalah Centre a place to find onesel£ lose onesel£or just try for a glimpse of Madonna? Many followers-andnot just celebs-say the center's ethical teachings have helpedthem to become better, more generous, more effectivepeo-ple. But trouble may await those who take its promises (tounlock "allthe secretsof the universe"and "allthe solutions toyour problems," as one text trumpets) too literally. "Theproblem with the Kabbalah Centre right now is in distin-guishing between a religion and a superstition," says RabbiShmuley Boteach, the author of several popular books onJudaism, noting that some of his Orthodox friends admirethe sect. ''A religion empowers you, but a superstition weak-

For Lindsey, the voyage began in April 2001, after ThePoor and Hungry, an indie flim in which she costarred (play-ing a very un-Panlike lesbian street hustler), won an awardat the Hollywood Film Festival.Eager to make more movies,she left Memphis for L.A. But auditions led nowhere andher encounters with fellow hopefuls left her disillusioned.

Lonely and adrift, she found a job as a tour guide at LA.'sMuseum of Tolerance. There she developed a crush on ahandsome coworker, Alex, a fellow aspiring actor 16 yearsher senior. Alex had been raised in a Muslim household butfor the past three years had been studying at the KabbalahCentre. After they started dating, he invited her there. "Hesaid, 'If you'd known me before, you'd never have wanted tobe with me. I've changed a lot because of the center.' "

Lindsey was raised as a Christian, but she'd begun toquestion her faith in recent years. "You can't tell me thateveryJewish person who died in the Holocaust is in hell rightnow," she says. She considered herself a skeptic, leery oforganized religion. Still, the introductory lecture at the

ens you. A superstition makes you very dependent on thegroup--you need to take their comses, ask them allyom pri-vate questions. You can't stand without them."

"I'd say the majority of people go there for a few weeks ormonths and then leave,"sayscounselor and cult expert StevenHassan, the director of the Freedom of Mind Resource Cen-ter in Somerville, Massachusetts. "But depending on wherean individual is in life, it can be a very different experience."

III WANrED SOMETHING TO MAKE SENSE IN MY UFEIIOn a backstage wall in a Memphis theater, one autographcarries a bittersweet double meaning for the woman whoscrawled it fiveyears ago: "Lindsey Roberts, forever in Never-Never Land." Lindsey was 21 then and playing the title rolein Peter Pan, her first lead in a professional production. Just5'2", her delicate fearmes framed by an auburn-tinted pixiecut, she projects a stadium-size personality. Storming aboutthe playhouse in jeans and John Fluevog combat boots, shegreets colleagueswith a stream of patter-"You comin' to theparty tonight?All right!"-and a guffawknown as the Lindseylaugh. Friends and family are happy to hear it again after atwo-year absence during which Lindsey chucked her career,made herself a stranger to those who loved her, and marrieda man she barely knew. "Sometimes," she says,"I'm like, Didthat happen to someone else?Was I there?"

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Kabbalah Centre captured her imagination. Her teacherdescribed Kabbalah (Hebrew for "that which is received") asan age-old set of techniques for harnessing the laws of theuniverse. This knowledge, said to be codified around thesecond century in a book called the Zohar, was now avail-able to all-thanks to the center and its founder, Rav Berg.

Most historians in fact date the Zohar and Kabbalah to thethirteenth centmy, when a Spanish Jew,Moses de Leon, spuna thousand years of spiritual tradition into a multivolumecombination of biblical commentary and mystical allegory.(He attributed the text to a second-century rabbi.) De Leonbegan with the premise that the Torah-the first fivebooks ofthe Bible-is written in code, and that its deepest meaningscan be revealed only through meditation, numerology, andcreative interpretation. He described a God with male andfemale aspects and a world in which spiritually informedhuman action can alter the very fabric of reality.

Later Kabbalists added their own twists, including a touchof astrology.They all agreed, however, that the discipline wastoo sacred, too difficult, and too psychologically hazardousto be attempted by anyone not firmly rooted in Jewish law.To hold otherwise, renowned Judaic scholar and Zohartranslator Daniel Matt says, "is a bold and controversialdeparture from Kabbalah."

The Kabbalah Centre is willing to make that departure,

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and others. Its doctrine-"a blend of Kabbalah, New Age,and self-help," says Matt-seems to rest on two centraltenets. The first is a vaguely karmic code of ethics rooted inKabbalist cosmology: God is embodied in a primal energyforce, or Light, whose natme is infinitely giving; the universeis filled with a desire to receive. Since we are fashioned inGod's image, however, sin1plysatiating this desire can neverbring fulfillment. The key is to accept om hunger for riches,glory, power, sex-but only so that we may emulate God bygiving to others. Like God, we should be "proactive" ratherthan "reactive." Instead of following om impulses, we shouldpractice "restriction": Stop, take a breath, and proceed froma position of divine calm. Though Satan (in the form ofselfishinstincts) may tempt us, self-interest requires unselfishbehavior; illness and misfortune result mostly from our ownegotistic actions, whether in this life or a previous one.Putting others first brings "miracles."

Second, the center preaches that Hebrew letters are aconduit for divine Light and that contemplating certaincombinations-especially those in the Zohar and in the 72

Kabbalah Centre in Tel Aviv, in 1977. (Brandwein's familyhas long denied that Berg is his spiritual heir, though Bergcounters that letters fi'om Brandwein prove his legitimacy.)

The Bergs came to New York City in 1984, but it wastheir move to L.A. in 1997 that would make Kabbalah ahousehold word. Sandra Bernhard was the first Hollywoodmacher to discover the center; she brought along her friendsMadonna and Roseanne, and a trend was born. For thesehip celebs, Kabbalah's affirmation of God's female side is anobvious draw, as is the center's take on the mechanics of fateand the perils of self-centeredness. "What people in LosAngeles do for a living can make for a very misleading life,"Monet Mazur says. "Ego gets in the way of everything."

For ordinary foll<s,the center has an added attraction: thestars. "I didn't join because of Madonna," Lindsey says. Butwhen doubts arose, the fact that Madonna was a followerhelped dispel them. "I thought, Maybe it's not the cult thatpeople say it is. Maybe it's not that bad."

From the start Lindsey juggled doubt and devotion. Shewent to Kabbalah II and scanned the Zohar regularly. It irked

three-letter "names of God"--can help bring health, wealth,happiness, even world peace. So powerful are these units ofcosmic DNA that knowillg how to read them is unnecessary;just scanning the text yields results.

At first this "scanning" notion struck Lindsey as absmd.But her teacher used examples from quantum mechanics toshow that even the most outlandish theories can becometomorrow's scientific postulates. In fact, he said, Kabbalistshad unlocked the secrets of subatomic physics centuriesbefore Einstein and Bohr. "I wanted something to mal{esensein my life," Lindsey acknowledges, "and little parts of whathe said kept malcingsense."She signed up for Kabbalah I andbegan attending serviceswith Alex.

A MAN, A PlAN, A MOVEMENTThe man who brought Kabbalah to the masses is an unlil{elygmu. Rav Berg (the titleRav denotes specialrespectfor a rabbi)began life as Feivel Gruberger in an Orthodox enclave ofBrooklyn. After being ordained as a rabbi, he switched to theinsmance business.Then on a trip to Israel in the early '60s,he met Rav Yehuda Brandwein, one of the century's greatKabbalists, and became his student. He also reportedly mar-ried Brandwein'sniece, and they had children. But around thetime of Brandwein'sdeath, in 1969, tl1atmarriage ended, andhe later married Karen, a fellow Brooldynite. He changed hisname to Philip Berg and with his wife opened the first

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her that she had to pass through the center'sstore,with its slickdisplays,to get to class.That didn't stop her from buying a $26red string to ward off the "evileye" or a $415 Zohar. She wasunnerved by the chevra, or full-time volunteers, who badgeredher to tal<eclassesand buy bool<S.Yetshe respectedher teacher,Chaim, who seemed to find realjoy in sharing his knowledge.

Meanwhile, Lindsey and Alex had embarked on an affairat1dmoved in together. After a few months he asked her tomarry him. Chaim, Alex'smentor, had told him that Lindseyshowed signs of being his "soul mate" and that it was anastrologically auspicious time for him to tal{ea bride. (Alexsays that in Kabbalah, a soul mate doesn't necessarilymean "amate for the rest of your life. It could mean a person whocomes into your lifeto teachyou a lesson,or you teach them.")

Lindsey loved Alex, but the relationship had its troubles.She says Alex questioned her incessantly about old flames,berated her for spealcingtoo fan1iliat'lywith other men, calledher spoiled and stupid, and forbade her to wear red lipstickor nail polish. On a Christmas visit to Memphis, friends say,he nearly started a bar fight with one of her actor pals over aperceived slight. Yetshe accepted his proposal, partly for fearof passing up an unrepeatable cosmic opportunity.

To preserveAlex'sreputation at the center and to avoid thesin of "evil-speak,"Lindsey kept his bullying to herself (Alexremembers some things differently but admits ''I'm not theeasiestguy in the world to get along with.") Chaim, she says,

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counseled that they could resolve any problem by followingthe center's principle of emotional restraint and jointlyscanning the Zohar. When it became clear that Lindsey'sparents disliked Alex, Chaim explained that friction withfamily was a signal that a couple was joined by destiny.Thecenter also taught that "negative thoughts" could do materialharm, and Lindsey, fearing family and friends would bringbad vibes to her wedding, didn't invite them. "I felt apartfi-omthem," she says, "but a part of the center and this life."

Lindsey and Alexwere matTied by Chaim at the KabbalahCentre on May 26, 2002. "I remember standing under thehuppa," she says, "and as Alex walked in my first thoughtwas, Run!" The event was worlds apart from the big churchwedding she'd always envisioned, and she found herselfregretting the absence of the people she cared about most.

all scientific knowledge as well as the past and the future; itsleaders have absolute power-there are no clerics or laycommittees to rein in their authority.

Not all unhealthy cults are as aggressiveor systematic as theMoonies, Hassan says. Some modulate the level of controlto fit individuals' susceptibilities and life circumstances.At the Kabbalah Centre, most followers never experienceanything close to mind control. But those least capable ofresisting-followers dealingwith fanUlytroubles, for example,or the stressof moving to a new city-"are going to be moremanipulable and exploitable," he says.

The center insists it doesn't control anyone. "Spiritualdiscoverycan elicitpowerful devotion," Yehuda Berg, 32, saysvia e-mail. "This bespeal<Sthe strength of the teachings of theKabbalah-no more." Roseanne backs him up: "Kabbalah is

A MAnER OF CONTROLSteveHassan knows how me emotionallyvulnerablecan be leddown dangerous spiritual paths. He was at Queens College in1974, a 19-year-old junior reelingfrom a rough breakup,whena trio of pretty girls approached him with a dinner invitation.It turned out to be a recruiting session for the UnificationChurch-al<a the Moonies. Soon he dropped out of schooland became a recruiterhimself Over the next two yearsHassanrose to a leadership position, before his father and threeex-members stagedan intervention. EventuallyHassan becameone of the country's best-known exit counselors, helpingmembers of "unhealmy cults" liberate themselves.

Hassan's definition of "unhealthy" hinges on what hecalls BITE: behavior, information, thought, and emo-tion-all the elements a group needs to control in order tomake members dependent. Any organization, Hassan says,can inspire cultlike devotion in some followers. Even main-stream groups, from religions to diet support networks, usesome degree of cognitive suggestion. But in an unhealthycult, according to Hassan, everything from getting dressedto communicating with loved ones maybe subject togroup control. Severe restrictions on sleep or diet fosteraltered mental states and weaken resistance. Members aretaught to banish unsuitable ideas and feelings by means of"thought-stopping" techniques-meditation, chanting,formulaic prayer. To ensure discipline, phobias are plantedin members' minds, such as the idea that disobedience orerror will cause disaster. The cult claims to have the key to

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about meditation," she says,"and it ismeditation that changesyour life, not groups of people or rabbis. If-you're weak andvulnerable, you should not join any group. There areignorant, controlling people everywhere you go." ButHassan has seen some center followers change in ways thathe believes meditation alone cannot explain. That's why hesaid yes when Lindsey's mother asked for his help.

THE INTERVENTlONWhen Lindsey called to tell her about the wedding, DonnaRoberts says, "I must've cried every day for two weeks."Through friends at church, Donna got in touch withHassan. He first advised her to avoid further alienatingLindsey, who had cut off all contact with her construction-magnate father after a recent quarreL (Lindsey's parents hadseparated after her move to L.A.) "He said, 'They want youto sayyou're never going to seeher again ifshe'sgoing to treatyou like that,'" she recalls. "He said, 'You go out and fightfor her'-and fight I did."

At Hassan's urging, Donna flew to Los Angeles for thebelated reception the couple held that June. She went withLindsey to a class at the center and was struck by theinstructor's evasiveness. "Every time someone asked a ques-tion," she says, "the teacher would work around it or say,'That's a wonderful question. We'll cover it next week.' "

Donna enlisted Lindsey's oldest friend, Tracy, who wasequally concerned. "She'd always been outgoing, boisterous,freethinking," Tracy says."Now she (Continued onpage 528)

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SEEING THE LIGHT(Continued .from page 378)was calm, but in an eerie way" Donna also con-tacted Lindsey's beloved mentor at the Uni-versity of Memphis (which she had left beforegraduaung to act in Peter Pan), Judaic Studiesprofessor David Patterson.

In November 2002, Donna invited herdaugh ter to Memphis for a birthday cele-bration. She would treat Lindsey; her sister,Lesli; and three friends to a spa weekend. "Isaid, 'Yeah, I'm there!' " Lindsey recalls. On thesecond day, Donna told her a man wanted toshare some informauo~ with Lindsey about theKabbalah Centre. Ifshe didn't care to listen he'dgo away, but if she did, she might learn a fewthings that would surprise her. "I was mad,"Lindsey says. "But looking back on it, if I wereher, I would've done the san1e thing." Besides,she was growing weary of the gap between thecenter's promises of fulfillment and the realityof her Ilfe. She accepted, and Hassan came intothe hotel room.

Hassan showed her reports that were criucalof the center and a stack of news clip-pings-fi-om journals as far-flLU1gas Miami andTel Aviv-documenting ex-devotees' allega-uons. There were stories (all denied by the cen-ter) of followers being told their marriages were"spiritually unsuitable" and given new parmers,or being pressed to donate large sums of money

Although Lindsey was shocked, sheresponded that she was not a hard-core believer.Hassan suggested otherwise: She'd alreadymarried under the center's influence. She tookdaily precauuons against the evil eye and badkarma-examples, he said, of induced phobias.He argued that the subsutuuon ofZohar scan-ning for analytic problem solving, as well as banson "negauve thoughts" and "evil-speak," wereways of pre-empting criucal thinking about thecenter itself The group's habit of shurming apos-tates was further evidence of control.

THE STORY OF XBut Hassan's strongest testimony came £i:om aformer Kabbalah Centre follower we'll call X(she requested that her name be withheld toprotect her privacy), whom Donna had flownin to tell Lindsey her story. X was a collegesophomore in 2000, when she discovered herlocal Kabbalah Centre. At the time she wasfeuding with her parents, questioning herChristianity, and struggling with her studies;she had just endured surgery and a badbreakup. She heard that Kabbalah could cureillness and "remove the chaos" from people'slives, and the chevras who approached her wereeffusively welcoming. "It sounded," she says,"Wzeeveryclung I was looking for."

X became a fixture at her center, takingclasses and helping cook Shabbat dinners andclean up aftelward. She had grown up admiringher Jewish neighbors and was eager to convert

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to Judaism, so she began learning Hebrew andkeeping kosher. Her teachers, she says, told herthat her mother, who was increasingly dis-tressed by X's devotion to the center, was"manipulauve and controlling."

Then in 2001, her rabbi told her that KarenBerg, on a visit, had been impressed by herfriendliness and dedication and thought shewould make a fme chevra. X was so excited thatshe walked out in the middle of a crucial exam:"I was thinking, Why am I doing this whenI'm going to be doing bigger things?"

No one at the center quesuoned her quittingschool; she told her parents only that she wasgoing to L.A., where she soon found herselfworking in the center's bookstore. In exchangefor food, a one-bedroom apartment sharedwith four other girls, and a stipend of $35 amonth, she worked seven days a week, often£i.-ommorning till past rnidnight. On Shabbat,the day of rest, she once even did the Bergs'laundty-a task she regarded as a privilege.When a follower she'd begun dating proposedmarriage, she was advised to avoid any closerelauonships till she'd completed her conversionand "received her Jewish soul."

Around this time, a center teacher beganpaying her special attenuon. He pressed her fordetails about her past, she says, including hersexual history, and recommended a specialcleansing. Under Jewish law, a ritual bath, ormikvah, culminates the conversion process; ifthe convert is female, she must be covered by asheet, and another woman must be present.One night, however, X recalls, she met theteacher alone at the center's mikvah for animprovised preconversion rite. He turned hisback as she approached the shallow poolwrapped in only a towel. Once she was under-watel~ she says, he faced her and began to pray"He could see everything," she says.

The incident didn't strike X as unwhole-some until long afterward; indeed, it onlyheightened her euphoria. But other things atthe center began to trouble her. There was thepressme to take on more work and the persis-tent exhausuon. There were the endless post-ponements of her conversion, supposedly onastrological grow1ds. X hated the push to sellcourses and books and to make sure wealthyworshippers never had to pray alone. (Sheremembers guiding Marla Maples through theservice on one holiday.) She was dismayedwhen one center leader, having scored a bigcontribuuon from a rock star, pranced aroundthe office giving high fives. Still, she told herselfshe was happy, and when her mother made anunannounced appearance at the center, Xinformed her that she planned to stay.

But during X's third month as a chevra, shelearned that her father was seriously ill, and sheasked permission to go see him. Her supelvi-sors, she says, advised her to work harderinstead, to send more Light his way. They

warned her that she would be cutting herself offfrom the group and from the Light-fromGod-if she went. She left anyway, taking asupply of Kabbalah water ($78 per case) to aidher father's healing. When she ill-opped by thelocal center and confessed her growing discon-tent, she says, the rabbi told her, "You didn't give100 percent, so you didn't get 100 percent."

Soon after, X's mother asked if she'd meetHassan. The intervenuon was followed by twoweeks at a cult rehab center and a year of ther-apy. By the time she met Lindsey, she was backin college and was about to become engaged.

The Kabbalah Centre refused to commenton the details of her stOlY, but Yehuda Bergwrites that X "was already alienated from herfamily before she became involved with thecenter. How many of the other allegauons aremanifestations of prior conditions? Should werefuse to minister to these individuals?" Henotes that X was one of 40 chevras there:"While we regret that we were not able to

assuage her mental anguish and make her com-fortable within the group, is the center to beblamed for an experience at odds with that of39 other individuals in exactly the sameposition?" Indeed, a cmrent LA. chevra, AlisonCohen, 26, calls her life at the center "amazing,completely rewarding, fulfilling," and says herlong workdays are entirely voluntary.

For Lindsey, though, X's tale struck a reso-nant chord. "I wanted to ClYfor her," she says."I was so sorty." Over the next three days, infact, Lindsey did plenty of crying. Patterson, herformer mentor, talked with her about Kabbal-ist theology. She spoke with Hassan about herabandoned ambitions and how she could beginto reclaim them. She was ready to end herromance with the center. But she was not pre-pared to say goodbye to Alex.

Lindsey flew back to LA and asked him togo with her to a marriage COunSelOl~but it soonbecame clear to both of them that their rela-tionship was irreparably broken. Alex, whohasn't been to the center in nearly a year,remains loyal to its principles. "If you live yomlife according to what you learn there, you'regoing to see improvements," he says. "It's easiersaid than done, but that's the whole point."

In May 2003, a year after her wedding,Lindsey left Alex, and in August she went backto Memphis. Almost immediately she wonback the part of Peter Pan, then roles in otherplays and short films. She resumed her studiesand was soon earning straight ill. She found anew boyfriend-a ill'ummer in a rock band-who has no objection to red nail polish.

Nonetheless, she's keeping her Zohar as areminder of where she's been. "For somereason," she says, "I think I needed to becomeaware of the feeling ofloss. Yom freedom, yomsense of who you are and what your goalsare-I needed to lose all that to realize justhow precious those things are." 0

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